Stay At Home Mothers 1

Stay at Home Mothers and their Children

A Psychological View on the Effect and Impact of their Children
Carman Tang
TDSB E-learning

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The article is written by Joseph Castro, titled How a Mother's Love Changes a
Child's Brain published on Insights of LiveScience on January 30, 2012. The article supports
a stay at home mom due to the benefits for her child. The article argues that a mothers love
may help enlarge the childs hippocampus, social experiences with their mother increases the
volume of the amygdala, and how supportive mothers helps children in the long term.1 My
position on this topic is quite the opposite. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence
which shows that employed mothers have a better impact on their child than stay at home
mothers. Studies show that daughters of completed more years of education and had more
supervisory roles, children of employed mothers have less traditional gender-role attitudes
and found higher cognitive and socioemotional scores for children with working mothers.2
The first argument supporting stay at home moms is that a mothers love may help
enlarge the childs hippocampus. Research on rats showed that those with maternal support
influenced its hippocampus growth, which plays a role in long-term memory. Another study
showed that children with nurturing mothers had a larger hippocampus volume larger than
children with mothers who were not as nurturing. Even though these are valid points, when
these studies are evaluated and compared to other research it does not match up. The first
study regarding rats and its hippocampus growth can not necessarily be applied to humans.
Even though there are some similarities in the way humans and animals functions, our brain
is much more complex than rats, so the study is not very applicable. The second study is very
vague in terms of what it defines as a nurturing mother. The study does not define certain
criteria which need to be met for a mother to be nurturing. Mothers can work a full-time job,
and still be able to come home and provide emotional support, and take care of their children.
A study from Hoffman showed that children had higher cognitive and socioemotional scores
for children with employed mothers. Those with large hippocampi generally score high on
cognitive tests which does not coincide with the first article.
The second argument supporting stay at home moms is that larger amounts of social
experiences with their mother increases the volume of the amygdala. Studies were done in
human children and there was a connection between childhood social experience and the size
of the amygdala. The amygdala makes it possible for us to control emotions such as
friendship, love, and anger. An additional study showed that children raised in a nurturing
environment were more socially developed and did better in school than those who were not.
Hoffmans article seems to undermine those points. The same study of cognitive and
socioemotional scores also apply to this argument because the social- emotional function
directly relates to the amygdala. In additions, daughters with working mothers tend to do
better in school and complete more years of education, once again countering the original
argument.
1 Castro, J. (2012, January 30). How a Mother's Love Changes a Child's Brain. Retrieved July 15, 2016, from
http://www.livescience.com/18196-maternal-support-child-brain.html
2 Hoffman, L. W., Dr. (1998). The Effects of the Mother's Employment on the Family and the Child. Retrieved
July 15, 2016, from http://parenthood.library.wisc.edu/Hoffman/Hoffman.html

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The last argument supporting stay at home moms is that they help their childrens
brain develop in the long term. The study included children from the ages of 3-6 who had
symptoms of early depression. The child was placed into another room with a wrapped gift
while the mother was in another room filling out a survey. Mothers than needed to explain
that the child would need to wait a few minutes. Depending on how the mothers explained to
their children that they were not allowed to open the gift, the researchers then rated the
support given to the children. Four years later the researchers gave the children MRI scans.
Non-depressed children with low maternal support had 9.2 smaller hippocampal volumes
than non-depressed children with high maternal support. Depressed children with high
support had 6.0 and those with low maternal support hat 10.6 smaller hippocampal volume.
Even though the MRIs are very accurate, the way researchers categorized if mothers were
supportive or not were not very precise. It is hard to judge whether a parent is supportive or
not based on a short 5-minute interaction with their child. Additionally, just because a mother
spends less time with her child because she is working longer hours does not mean she is not
supportive of her child. This article implies that spending more time with a stay at home
mother is better for the child in the long term, but when other studies are consulted this is not
the case. For example, multiple sources like Hoffman and a study from Harvard Business
both claim that children with children of employed mothers have less traditional gender-role
attitudes.3 This encourages children to explore professions and interests which arent
traditional to their gender. Additionally, this helps in the childrens future when they settle
down, as they have a greater appreciation and split parental roles more evenly.
Due to the debatable points are given in the original article, there is the vast amount of
information of why working mothers are just as beneficial if not more for their children as
staying at home moms. The research which disapproves the original article is by Lois Wladis
Hoffman, a psychology who is more credible than a science-oriented website rephrasing
studies. The points I made of daughters of completing more years of education, children
having less traditional gender-role attitudes, and higher cognitive and socioemotional scores
goes to prove my point.

3 Nobel, C. (2015, May 15). Kids Benefit From Having a Working Mom. Retrieved July 15, 2016,
from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/kids-benefit-from-having-a-working-mom

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References

Castro, J. (2012, January 30). How a Mother's Love Changes a Child's Brain.
Retrieved July 15, 2016, from http://www.livescience.com/18196-maternal-support-childbrain.html

Hoffman, L. W., Dr. (1998). The Effects of the Mother's Employment on the Family
and the Child. Retrieved July 15, 2016, from
http://parenthood.library.wisc.edu/Hoffman/Hoffman.html

Nobel, C. (2015, May 15). Kids Benefit From Having a Working Mom. Retrieved
July 15, 2016, from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/kids-benefit-from-having-a-working-mom